With the aim of boosting the reading culture in Tanzania, I have also decided to announce publicly the books that I read in the year 2012.

I hope this initiative will motivate other Tanzanians to step up, pick up and encourage their families to develop a reading culture.

I have instilled a reading culture in my family. My kids have individually read not less than 30 books this year. Their favourite books were part of their Christmas presents this year. They have ferocious appetite for books that we regularly visit local bookshop to replenish reading books.

A fellow legislator, Zitto Kabwe has declared a list books he read in 2012 on his blog . I would also like to commend Maggid Mjengwa for his insightful article on reading culture in Tanzania, I think he should go further and tell us the books he has read.
Dr Mwele Malecela, please share the book list that you promised to announce publicly. January Makamba, you are an avid reader, share your list too.

I have read the aforementioned books, how many books did you read this year? You can respond by inserting a comment on this blog or on Twitter with “letsreadtz” hashtag.
Let us make 2013 a reading year!

This is inspiring, I should also find a way of initiating similar projects in Uganda because the reading culture is also sickening, I have read 10books, ending with “HOW TO WIN FRIENDS,AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, by Dale Carnegie” which I’m finishing today but I feel I should step up after this inspiration.Thanks, way to go!!!!

The books I have finished reading…
1. The Big Short (Inside the Doomsday Machine) – by Michael Lewis. “Unputdownable” especially if you enjoy high finance stuff.
2. A Conspiracy of Fools (about the Enron collapse) – by Kurt Eichenwald. Gripping!
3. Treasure Islands (about tax havens) – by Nicholas Shaxton. Revealing and preachy too
4. Eight Days in September (about the Thabo Mbeki ouster) – by Frank Chikane. It could have done with a better editing job, in my view
5. How will you measure your life? – by Clayton M. Christensen. Inspiring!
6. The Litigators – by John Grisham. A really slow start to his latest novel 😦
7. Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves – by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

And the ones I am still reading…
8. Poor Economics by Abijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, a bit heavy but insightful look into the economics of poverty.
9. High Financier: The lives and time of Siegmund Warburg (a major banker) – by Niall Ferguson
10. Thinking, fast and slow – by Daniel Kahneman (a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics). A really slow read, if you want to understand what great insights it has, but well worth the effort. Some reading should not be rushed.
11. The Squeeze: Oil, Money and Greed in the 21st Century – by Tom Bower. A fascinating study of how the global hydrocarbon industry is run, warts and all!

Hi Faustine,
Again big Up for your very innovative idea! I like this so much and I deeply encourage people to read not many books but read strategic books!!! that is if you want to reach the high heights in your life. Personally in 2012, my focus was to learn on how I can invest money in stocks successfully and I have achieved big time!! I read the following books which all of them have inspired me so much:
1. The Warren Buffet Ways- by Rober Hagstrom
2. Hisa, Akiba na Uwekezaji- By Emilian Busara
3. Rich Dad Poor Dad- by Rober Kiwosaki
4. Think and Grow Rich- by Napoleon Hill
5. The Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell
6. Let every nation Know- Robert Dallek
7.The Purpose Driven Life- Rick Warren (I read for the third time)
8. How to become the CEO- Jeffrey Fox

Readers are leaders. Readers are good authors. Readers make quality decisions based on facts not emotions or crowd influence. Level of income and success in area is most likely influenced by the level of knowledge you had attained by reading. Show me a reader and I will show you the leader. We, in Tanzania, should no longer be in the group of “If you want to hide something valuable from (……… ) put it in a book”

This year of 2012, I ready many books, over 100 books on stocks, wealth creation, secrets of millionaires, finance, investing, leadership, politics, development programs, public speaking, and money management.

I would like to applaud you and your fellow legislators for promoting reading culture. However, I must say make it clear that, poor reading culture among Tanzanians is largely due to our education system which doesn’t encourage reading.

Students lack inspiration from both their teachers and parents while the few with reading interest struggle to find books and libraries in their vicinity. Nonetheless, I commend this initiative and hopefully it will inspire a new generation of book readers.

In the same spirit, I would also like to list books that I have read this year including one which I have just finished. The list is from a wide range of issues but I must admit my bias on environmental related titles.

Here is my list:
1. Green China: Chinese insights on Environment and Development by James Keeley
2. From Crisis to Peace: The organic vegan way is the answer. By Supreme master Ching Hai
3. The Skeptical Environmentalist – By Bjorn Lomborg

4. Towards a Green Economy Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication – By United Nation Environment programme

OK Fau thanks for mentioning the LetsreadTZ initiative before I give my booklist let me thank all those who shared what they were reading and inspired us to read more. I would like to thank@martinwarioba who is designing an interactive webisite for letsreadTZ. I plan to read more local authors next year.
As you know I am an avid reader so here goes:
LETS READTZ
Two of the books are rereads. I am grateful to my kindle for making it possible to read so much more.
1. My House in Arusha-Sara Tucker
2. Thinking Fast and Slow-Daniel Kahneman
3. Dancing in the Glory of Monsters-Json K. Stearns
4. The Power of Now-Eckhart Tolle
5. You must set Forth at dawn-Wole Soyinka
6. Why nations fail-Daron Acemoglo and James Robinson
7. Boomerang: Travels in the new third world- Michael Lewis
8. Nudge-Richard H. Thaler and Cass R Sunstein
9. How- Dov Seidman
10. The Now Habit-Neil Fiore
11. The Dragons Gift-Deborah Brautigam
12. The Price of inequality-Joseph E. Stiglitz
13. Good Strategy Bad Strategy-Richard Rumelt
14. Barua ndefu kama hii – Mariama Ba reread
15. Quiet-The power of introverts in a world that cant stop talking- Susan Cain
16. Punished by rewards- Alfie Kohn
17. What matters now- Gary Hamel
18. Start with Why –Simon Sinek
19. God never Blinks-Regina Brett
20. Brand raising-Sarah Durham
21. The fifth Agreement- Don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz
22. The 3rd Alternative Steven Covey
23. Stillness Speaks-Eckhart Tolle
24. The Lord is my Shepherd- Harold S Kushner
25. Peace form Broken Pieces- Iyanla Vazant
26. The Emperor of all Maladies- Siddhartha Mukherjee
27. A few good eggs-Julie Vargo and Maureen Reagan
28. The Lincoln Lawyer- Michael Connelly
29. Portfolios of the Poor- How the Worlds poor live on $2 a day- Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven
30. The Prophet-Khalil Gibran-reread
31. Sing you home- Judi Picoult
32. Lies, Damned Lies and Science: How to sort through the Noise around Global Warming, the latest health claims and other scientific controversies- Sherry Seethaler
33. The Magic-Rhonda Byrne
34. Island Beneath the sea-Isabel Allende
35. The Five Secrets you must discover before you die-John Izzo
36. The Cry of the Dove-Fadia Faqir
37. Cleopatra: A Life- Stacy Schiff
38. More than Good intentions-Dean Karlan & Jacob Appel
Happy Reading Everyone and Happy New Year! Lets Read TZ